Girl Meets the Real World
by kindaobsessedwithgmw
Summary: As the end of their Middle School days nears, Riley and her friends Maya, Farkle and Lucas begin to discover the 'real world' and problems teenagers face these days. New crushes will develop and friendship will be brought into question. Will hopefully include riarkle, lucaya and maybe Rucas. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1- Girl Meets The Real World

Hi! So this is my first story on this site and I'm excited to see how it turns out so I'd really appreciate some feedback on it! Thanks for reading and I really hope you enjoy it!

 **Chapter 1**

 ***Riley's POV***

They say the most drama-filled time of Middle School, or perhaps your entire schooling, is the second half of Grade Eight. But as I walked through the front entrance to John Quincy Adams Middle School, I certainly didn't feel any different

"You know what Maya? I think this is going to be a great semester for the tHiwo of us," I said as we walked down the corridor.

"And what makes you think that?" Maya asked.

I really couldn't explain it. "I don't know, I just feel like it will."

Maya rolled her eyes. "Okay Riley, time to hop off your cloud of happiness and join us in the real world. Not everything will turn out as you hope and you have to be prepared for that, don't you?"

"Can't I have a little bit of hope?" I asked, slightly teasingly.

"Hope's for suckers," Maya replied but she began to laugh a bit. I was glad that she no longer believed that. I loved the new Maya who had hope.

Just as I slammed my locker door shut the bell rang. First period was History class. As we waited for Mr Matthews— who unfortunately also happened to be my father— to unlock the door, Farkle and Lucas joined us, both looking very excited. "Hey guys!" Lucas said. "How were your holidays?"

"Oh they were brilliant! How were yours? Did you go back to Texas?" I asked.

"I did, my father and sister are still living down there so we spent Christmas with them," Lucas replied.

"Wait, you have a sister?" I asked. How could I not have known that? I'd known him for about a year and a half.

"I certainly do."

"So Ranger Rick? Have your gone back to all your Ol' cowboy ways now that you've spent the last couple of weeks in Texas?" Maya asked teasingly. We all laughed.

"You know what? I have a really great feeling about this semester," Farkle said just as Dad turned up.

"Me too!" I said, high-fiving him.

Maya rolled her eyes again. "Oh god, not you too! I've already heard Riley going on about how happy she is to be here and 'la la la la, life is great'."

"And what's so bad about that Miss Hart?" Dad asked as he unlocked the door.

"Nothing Mr Matthews, but you never know when life's going to knock you down and you have to be prepared for that!" Maya replied.

"My God, did Maya Hart just say something wise?" Dad said as we filed into the classroom and took our familiar seats. "Now before we begin you've all got new timetables as there have been some changes to classes, rooms and teachers," he said, handing out the pieces of paper to each student. "Now, Belgium 1831," he began.

Farkle made an excited sound from behind me. "Farkle? Since you've waited so long to finally learn about this, why don't you come up and teach the class?" Dad asked.

Farkle looked the happiest I'd ever seen him as he stood at the front of the class. "In 1831, the Belgian revolution began as the people of Belgium wanted to gain independence from the Netherlands-" he began.

"Wait, Mr Matthews, I have a question," Maya began. "When will we meet the real world?" Farkle looked like he could've stabbed Maya.

"Sorry Farkle, I guess Farkle Time is over," Dad said sheepishly, rubbing 'Belgium 1831' off the board. Farkle looked infuriated as he stalked over and sat down.

"When will you meet the real world?" Dad began. "Will it be in a couple of years? When you leave school? Maybe you've already met the real world? Well from my experience, I've found that it's around this age and this period of time when you start to realise what the real world is. And I pity you all. The real world is a dark and horrible place." He said as the bell rang. "Well! On that happy note, you homework is to write a one-page essay on what you think the real world is."


	2. Chapter 2- Girl Meets Trouble

Hi! So here's the second chapter! I really hope you guys have been enjoying it so far and thanks for the lovely reviews ;)

 **Chapter 2**

 ***Riley's POV***

"What do we have now," Maya asked as we left the classroom.

"Uh, Maths," I said, checking my timetable. "Hey we've got a new teacher for that, don't we? Now that Mrs Daniels has gone on maternity leave. His names Mr Johnson."

"Ah great, maybe he won't give us heaps of homework like your father," Maya said, annoyed. Maths was Maya's worst subject.

As Maya complained more about the amount of homework we had received we entered the classroom. "First rule of my classroom. No talk allowed. Now take your seats," Mr Johnson said strictly. Maya and I exchanged looks as we sat down. As soon as the entire class had sat down, Mr Johnson began.

"Now we'll move on to our new topic, Algebra, please turn to your textbooks and read page 58. In silence," he said.

"Oh god, just kill me now," Maya muttered to me. She hated Algebra.

"You! What's your name?" Mr Johnson asked Maya. "Stand up."

Maya looked very nervous, I rarely saw her nervous. "Um, I'm Maya Hart."

"Well, Maya Hart, you just earned yourself a detention. Didn't I say no talking? Now sit down and do your work," Mr Johnson said angrily. Maya groaned and sat down. I wanted to tell her that I thought the teacher was being really unfair but, of course, I couldn't talk.

A couple of other students muttered and the teacher immediately yelled at them and gave them detentions as well... This teacher seemed like a maniac?

 ***Maya's POV***

Question Five made absolutely no sense to me, however I was hesitant to ask Riley to explain or ask the teacher for help, but after contemplating for a few minutes and recieveing a few icy glares from Mr Johnson, I knew I couldn't sit there forever, so I leaned over and whispered to Riley, hoping the teacher wouldn't catch me.

"Hey Riles? Do you know how to do Question Five?" I asked.

Riley quickly looked over at Mr Johnson but he hadn't seemed to notice. "Maya Hart," Mr Johnson suddenly said, my heart plummeted. "Didn't I say no talking?"

"Yes sir," I replied quickly.

"So why were you talking to Riley?"

"I'm sorry sir, I just needed help on Question Five," I replied.

Mr Johnson sighed in despair. "There's always got to be one in every class, hasn't there? The one who doesn't care enough to try and figure stuff out on her own, the one who just expects everyone else to give her the answer, the one who's to stupid to understand. And I'm guessing your the slacker, the stupid one in this class." The whole class looked up.

Then all of a sudden, Riley was standing up. "Don't you dare talk to Maya like that," she said, anger evident in her voice. I was shocked, I had rarely seen Riley get angry.

"Excuse me?" Mr Johnson said.

"Don't you dare call Maya a slacker or stupid," Riley continued. I grabbed her shirt to try and pull her back down but she shrugged me off, she was really mad.

"Riley. Stop. You'll get into trouble," I whispered to her.

"No," she whispered back before standing up even straighter. "Sure, Maths isn't Maya's best subject but she does care and she does try and you shouldn't go around labelling your students simply because they didn't understand something! Maybe your the one who doesn't care enough to tru and help your students and maybe your the one too stupid to understand that other people have feelings. Teachers are supposed to encourage their students, not put them down," she said, almost shouting.

Mr Johnson was practically fuming. "You. Out. Now. And go straight to the Principal's Office," he growled angrily. Riley glared at him and stormed out. I felt so bad, Riley was about to get into big trouble all because of me. I never should've talked to her. But at the same time, I felt rather happy that she was protecting me.

 ***Riley's POV***

What have I done? I thought as I made my way down the school corridor. The anger and adrenaline I'd felt shouting at Mr Johnson was beginning to wear off. I had shouted at a teacher! I had been sent to the Principal's Office!

I nervously knocked on the door to the Principal's Office. I'd never been in there before. "Come in," the voice of Mrs Francis—the principal— called back. I opened the door and sat down in front of her desk, my head hanging down. "Riley Matthews? I never thought I'd see you in here? What happened?" She asked.

"Um, I- I yelled at Mr Johnson," I mumbled.

"I'm sorry? I didn't quite catch that?" Mrs Francis asked.

"I yelled at Mr Johnson," I said louder.

"You did what? Please care to explain," she asked.

"He called Maya a 'slacker' and 'stupid' because she didn't understand one of the Maths questions," I replied, the anger was beginning to rush back in but I couldn't let my temper get the better of me. I always tried to keep it under control but sometimes, sometimes I couldn't.

Mrs Francis shook her head. "Riley Matthews, I'm very disappointed in you. I am going to have to give you a detention but if this ever happens again I will be forced to suspend you. However, we will be making an inquiry into this teacher. You are excused," she said, disappointment in her voice as she wrote out a detention slip.

I let out a sigh of relief, I had only gotten a detention. But at the same time I was feeling quite uneasy, only earlier that day I had been going on about how great things were going to be this semester. But now I wasn't so sure... It hadn't been a good start.


	3. Chapter 3- Girl Meets Farkle

Hi! Thanks for the reviews everyone and I hope you're enjoying the story! This chapters a bit sad... It's pretty much a similar conversation to one I had with my friend... But it's alright because Riarkle!

 **Chapter 3**

 ***Riley's POV***

I heard the familiar tap on the window just as I was finishing up the last questions for my Geography homework. I looked over to see Farkle waving at me. I checked the clock on the wall. 7 o'clock. Farkle never failed to come at 7 o'clock sharp every day.

I opened the window to let him in and we sat on the bay window together. "Hey Farkle!" I said.

"Hey Riley, what're you doing?" Farkle asked.

"Oh, just finishing up my Geography homework. Our teacher always gives us such hard questions," I complained.

"Come on Riley. I know your favourite subject is Geography," Farkle teased. Well, he wasn't wrong. I loved learning about the World. "Anyway, I just wanted to say that I thought what you did for Maya today was really cool. She's lucky she's got a great friend like you."

I blushed and smiled a little. My parents had been very angry when I'd told them I'd gotten a detention. But they'd calmed down once I told them why.

"Did you get into trouble?" Farkle asked.

"Kind of. But all I got was a detention which was lucky," I replied. "Anyway Farkle, what's going on with you? How's home?" I asked, a question I always asked him whenever he came over. Farkle had a very unstable home life.

He shrugged. "Alright."

"Come on Farkle, you can tell me anything. I'm your best friend," I said.

"I thought Maya was your best friend?" Farkle replied.

"I'm sure you can have more than one best friend!" I said.

"My parents are fighting again. It's really bad this time. I'm worried Riley," Farkle said, looking sad.

I put my arm around his shoulder. "Hey, it'll be alright."

"And my Mum's really cranky at me. I got a B in an Art test," he continued. Farkle's parents expected the best of their child, which sometimes made Farkle feel so overwhelmed by all the pressure to do well. I'll never forget the day in Fourth Grade when he got his first B in English. His parents had yelled at him and he had cried to me for about half an hour.

"What about your parents? Are they treating you and Gretl alright?" Gretl was Farkle's seven year-old sister and the most adorable girl in the world. I know, who names their kids Farkle and Gretl? Farkle was very protective of her.

"Same as always. Dad's never home, he's always at work and you know how Mum is, she's never home either," he said sadly. Farkle's Mum wasn't exactly the best person to be a parent to two children, she was barely ever home. Sometimes I thought Farkle might even have it worse off than Maya, sure his father was a millionaire but I knew Farkle would trade all the money his family had if it meant he could have loving parents.

"I'm sorry. You're always welcome around here remember," I told him.

"I know," he said, smiling sadly. "Anyway, I'd better go now. This was a nice chat, Riley."

We stood up and hugged. "It'll be alright Farkle, you can always come to me." I whispered into his ear, then waved as he climbed back out the window.

Farkle was always smiling and acting confident, but underneath I knew he was sad. He couldn't fit in, at home or at school.

 ***Farkle's POV***

The subway is a great place to think and contemplate the meaning of life. That day I contemplated a topic that was always on my mind. Riley or Maya?

If there was one word I would describe Riley with it would nice. She was always nice to me, always had time for me and my problems. Maya's too. And I knew she loved me, but she was in love with Lucas, and I didn't want to ruin our friendship. What if we went out but then broke up and she hated me? I couldn't risk ruining our talks at the bay window.

I found Maya to be intriguing too. She was always so mysterious and I wanted to know what secrets she was hiding. I knew that secretly, she care about me a lot too. But maybe I was more in love with the idea of her.

As the train pulled to a stop and my train station, I still hasn't made up my mind. And I wondered if I ever would. But for now the Riley and Maya dilemma remained unsolved.


	4. Chapter 4- Girl Meets Humans

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update... But here's a new chapter! J hope you enjoy it and please leave a review if you do!**

Chapter 4

*Riley's POV*

"You seem to be in a good mood Riley," Maya said as we boarded the subway. I was happily humming to myself.

"I am. Life's pretty good at the moment," I replied. Maya rolled her eyes at me.

"And there you go, jinxing yourself again. Anyway, do you want to hang out at Topanga's tonight? We could ask Lucas and Farkle too," Maya asked.

"Can't. I have detention after school today," I said, annoyed.

"Oh," Maya said uncomfortably, maybe she thought it was her fault I got detention. Which it wasn't. "Thanks for sticking up for me yesterday."

"Maya, you've thanked me at least ten times since it's happened! I just hope that teacher gets fired, he shouldn't be allowed to be so mean to kids," I replied as we got off the train. It was a short walk from the subway station to the school.

"Hey Riley. Hey Maya," Lucas greeted us at our lockers.

"Hey Ranger Rick," Maya replied as the bell rang. We had History first, as always. When we walked in, Dad was sticking up pictures on the board.

"Who are they?" Dad asked, pointing to the pictures once everyone had sat down. "Farkle?"

"Emperor Nero, Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden," Farkle replied.

"Good. And what do all three of these men have in common?" Dad asked. This time I put up my hand. "Yes Riley?"

"They were all horrible people who committed terrible acts of cruelty," I replied.

"Very good. Nero was an emperor of Rome, he burnt down entire cities and killed thousands of people. You all know about Hitler, he killed thousands of Jews and basically started World War II, and Osama Bin Laden was behind many terrorist attacks— including 9/11— that killed thousands of people. Humans can be cruel people, but what drives someone to be cruel?" Dad asked.

"Jealousy," Billy said sheepishly.

"Revenge," Maya added.

"Their family," Lucas said.

Dad nodded. "Excellent. You might notice that even here, in John Quincy Adams Middle School, some people can be very cruel towards others." He said as the bell rang.

"Well that was a weird lesson," I said as we left.

"Yeah but it's true. There are a lot of cruel people in the world," Maya commented.

"I think it's interesting. What does cause people to become so mean," Farkle said. I noticed Lucas looked quite ashamed for some reason.

"Oh crap! I just realised I forgot my Science book," I said. "I'll catch up with you guys in a second, I'll just go get it."

I rushed over to my locker and opened the door. Around the corner I could hear two people talking, which wasn't really unusual. "Oh my god, she's so annoying!" One voice said. I must confess I really like eavesdropping on other people's conversations. But I hated when people talked about other people behind their backs.

"I know, she's so weird too. And a bit of a nerd as well. I can't see how anyone could stand to be around her. I can't even stand ten minutes in the same room! The second voice said.

"Who're you two talking about?" A third voice asked.

"Ugh, Riley Matthews," the second voice replied.

My heart plummeted.


	5. Chapter 5- Girl Meets Hate

**Hey! Sorry it's been a while since I've updated... School has been keeping me busy unfortunately. But here's a new chapter! It's a continuation on from last chapter and it's got a bit of Rucas in it for all you shippers. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 5**

 ***Maya's POV***

Riley rushed into class a minute after the bell had gone, looking very flustered. She quickly took her seat in between Farkle and I. "Riley? What's wrong?" I asked, Riley looked very worried.

"Uh, nothing," she replied, quickly and unconvincingly.

"Riley I know something's wrong. You don't even have your Science book with you. And that's what you went to get," I pointed out.

"What? Did I forget it? I'm sorry Maya I just have a lot on my mind right not," she replied before quickly starting to take notes in her History book.

"Riley I saw you like five minutes ago and you were fine? What happened?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine," she tried to assure me.

"Window. Tonight," I whispered as we began the lesson.

"Something's wrong with Riley," I said to Farkle and Lucas. We had arranged to meet in Topanga's.

"What do you mean?" Farkle asked.

"Well she barely spoke to me after Science and she was looking very flustered and worried all day too," I replied.

"Yeah, I noticed that too." Lucas said.

"Have you tried talking to her about it?" Farkle asked.

"I tried but she kept insisting nothing was wrong. I'm worried, I've never seen her like this before." I checked my watch, "I'll be back soon, I'm just going to go and talk with Riley."

Lucas looked worried too. "Okay, we'll be waiting here," he said.

I climbed the familiar fire escape to Riley's window, trying to think about the possible reasons she was acting like this. Maybe she was just stressed out about a test or something? "Riley?" I asked, tapping on her bedroom window. She got up from reading on her bed and opened the window.

"Hey Maya," she said.

"Riley, you sit down right this second and tell me what's going on," I said fiercely. She looked shocked at my outburst and sat down.

"I'm telling you, nothing is wrong," she lied.

"Riley, your a terrible liar. We're best friends remember? We tell each other everything. You can tell me what's going on," I said.

She sighed. "Fine. Well today when I went to get my Science books I heard two people talking about me around the corner— they weren't saying nice things," she said, looking down.

"Oh Riley," I said, putting my arm around her. "What did they say about you?"

"Th-they said that I was annoying and weird and a nerd and that they can barely stand ten minutes in the same room as me," she said, sounding like she was struggling to hold back tears. A surge of anger coursed through me? How could people say that about my little Riley?

"Riles, you listen to me alright? Don't worry for a second about how other people see you, okay? Your a brilliant person and don't let anyone tell you otherwise," I said.

"Thanks Maya, but it matters to me what other people think of me. I want to be liked," she replied.

"Hey. I like you! Lucas and Farkle like you! Trust me, a lot of people like you. Who said these things about you anyway?" I asked.

"I don't know, but they both sounded like girls. And anyway, it doesn't really matter who said it," she replied.

"It matters a lot," I said fiercely. "I need to go now," I said, I had probably left Farkle and Lucas waiting for ages.

"Maya—" Riley said as I started to climb out the window. "Your the best friend I could ever ask for, thank-you. And please don't do anything stupid," she said, smiling.

 ***Lucas' POV***

"Hurry up Maya," I said to myself, we'd been waiting in Topanga's for a while and both Farkle and K were starting to get a bit bored.

As soon as I said that, Maya walked right through the front door. "Window. Now." She said, pointing to the window seat. Farkle and I exchanged looks and sat down.

"Did you talk to Riley?" Farkle asked.

"Yeah, I did," Maya seemed angry, which made me worried.

"And?" I asked.

"Well she overheard two girls saying some really nasty stuff about her. And you know Riley, she's so insecure about what other people think of her," Maya explained.

"She is?" I asked, I'd never really known Riley to be insecure. But Maya nodded. "Who was it?" I asked angrily, standing up.

"I don't know. Riley doesn't know either but she says it's not important. I think what Riley need now is just some people to tell her they like her," Maya replied, glancing over at me. I sat down, sometimes I struggled to keep my temper under control. Especially when people hurt the people I loved.

"Well, let's go cheer out Riley up," Farkle said, sounding very determined. And with that we got up and walked out of the bakery.


	6. Chapter 6- Girl Meets Destruction

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated... I've been busy. But I hope you enjoy this chapter! And thanks for all the lovely reviews!**

 **Chapter 6**

 ***Riley's POV***

"Hey Maya? Do you want to come for dinner tonight? Shawn's coming back from his trip to Montana and he's coming over," I said to Maya.

"Really?" Maya asked, her eyes brightening up. "I'd love to come!"

"Cool! Well, you know the time we always have dinner at," I said, my father insisted on having dinner at 7 o'clock sharp, every day.

"Ladies," Farkle said, coming up to us, but his voice wasn't as enthusiastic as it normally was.

"Farkle," Maya and I replied in unison, as usual, "Hey Farkle, what's up? You don't seem like yourself today," I asked.

Farkle sighed. "Nothing," and walked off.

Maya and I exchanged glances. "What's up with him?" Maya asked.

"I don't know but we'd better find out," I replied just as the bell went.

"World War I and II," Dad said as we all sat down. "What happened then?"

"The entire world was at war," Lucas said.

"Destruction. Complete and utter destruction. Millions were left dead, soldiers, civilians, mothers, fathers, son, daughters, husbands, wives. It was a terrible time, though who survived it would never be the same again," Dad said. "What happened in World War I?"

"Both sides were out to kill as many people as they possibly could using any means possible," Farkle said.

"Destruction. Complete and utter destruction," Dad replied. "Now please turn to page 76 in your books and complete the questions."

"You know how everything your Dad says seems to relate back to our lives somehow?" Maya leant over and whispered to me.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"I really hope this isn't one of those times."

 ***Maya's POV***

"It's Maya," I called into the Matthew's intercom.

"Come on up," Riley's voice crackled back through in reply. The door unlocked and I climbed the stairs to the Matthew's apartment. Riley opened the door as soon as I came up. "Hey Maya!" She said excitedly. "Shawn's not here yet," she added.

"That's okay, let's just go to the bay window until dinner," I suggested.

"So what do you think's the matter with Farkle?" Riley asked urgently as soon as we sat down.

I shrugged but I was worried too, usually he was a lot more confident. "I don't know but I'm sure it's nothing too bad."

"Yeah," Riley said, looking very distracted. Suddenly we heard the door open and Shawn had arrived. "Let's head downstairs," Riley said happily. "Uncle Shawn!" She said as soon as we ran into the room, heading straight for his open arms.

"Hey Shawn," I said, and he opened his arms for me as well, before Mr Mattews pushed me away, insisting he had to talk to Shawn and they chatted away for a bit like an old married couple.

"Dinner's ready!" Topanga announced and we all sat down at the table. "So Shawn, tell us about your trip to Montana!" She said.

Soon Shawn was raving about all the things he'd seen and experienced, which made me feel a bit jealous, having never ventured further west than Pennsylvania, and that was only with the Matthew's, Mum never took holidays and even if she did, we'd have nowhere to visit.

"Oh, and I have something very important to announce, I've been debating whether or not I should tell you this. But I think I should! I, Shawn Hunter, have found myself a girlfriend!" Shawn announced, my heart dropped.

"Really?" Mr Matthew's asked, and Topanga was looking like she could've stabbed Shawn.

"Yep, I met her in a hotel in Montana, she lives here in New York and I suggested we travel around Montana together," he said.

"May I be excused?" I asked as I got up to leave the table, feeling slightly sick, Riley didn't hesitate to follow me.

"Maya are you okay?" She asked as we sat down at the bay window

I nodded. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine."

"Maya, you're definitely not alright. I'm so sorry, I didn't think Shawn would be stupid enough to say something like that around you. Are you alright?" Riley said.

"Riles, I told you, I'm fine, just a little bit shocked, that's all. Shawn deserves his own life anyway and if he's happy with this woman then I'm happy for him. I was stupid thinking I could have hope that he might- that he might date my mother," I confessed.

"Maya you weren't stupid at all, in fact my entire family has been trying to set your mother and Shawn up for ages now. You deserved to have someone like Shawn in your life," Riley said.

I shook my head. "I think I'm going to head home now. You have a good night Riley, I'll see you tomorrow," then I sighed, "Hope is for suckers."


	7. Chapter 7- Girl Meets Jealousy

**Hey guys! It's been a while since I've updated, I'll probably only update once a week because I don't have that much time to write at the moment. But I hope you enjoy the story and thanks again for the great reviews! The long wait between episodes is driving me mad at the moment ;) and this chapter isn't one of my best... And it's kind of really out of character... Sorry**

Chapter 7

*Maya's POV*

"Oh god, I hope we don't get our test results back today," Riley said, looking very nervous. We were standing outside our Geography classroom, waiting for our teacher to show up.

"I don't know but Riley, stop stressing, you did fine," I told her, just as our Geography teacher walked over, carrying a stack of exam papers. Every test we had I would try and guess which one of my over-achieving friends would get the best mark. Farkle, Riley or Lucas, although it was usually Farkle.

"Alright," our teacher said as she began to hand out the tests. "Now, some of you did pretty well in this test, however some people didn't do as well and I advise them to study harder next time." She handed my test to me, a D, 22/50, so close to a pass, but still a very disappointing score. I don't know what I was expecting, I wasn't very smart.

"What did you get?" I whispered to Riley.

"I got 48!" Riley said excitedly, showing me her paper with a big A written on it.

"Oh, well done," I said, though it came out kind of sarcastic and Riley looked a bit hurt, I don't know why I was jealous all of a sudden.

"And congratulations to Riley for getting the best mark of the class and top of the grade this term!" The teacher said. Riley beamed, this was the first time she had topped the grade.

"Well done Riley!" Lucas said.

"Ugh, you stole my spot!" Farkle said but he sounded very happy for her.

"Congratulations," I said, but again it came out slightly sarcastic.

"Maya what's the matter?" Riley asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing." I knew I should be happy for my friend but for some reason I couldn't, I had failed another class this term, whilst the rest of my friends did well. Like always.

*Riley's POV*

"Hey Farkle? What's the matter, you don't seem yourself today," I said to Farkle as we walked out of class. I couldn't stop staring at that A on my paper. I had never topped the grade before!

"Nothing, I'm fine," he replied, but he looked as downcast as he had all day.

"Bay window, tonight, we'll talk then okay?" I told him. "Hey, what's up with Maya?"

"Riley I think she might be jealous of you, she failed that test you know," he replied.

"Oh, but I've never known Maya to be jealous before?" I said.

"I think you should talk to her tonight," Farkle replied.

"Okay, thanks Farkle," I said before walking over to Maya.

"Alright Riley, what did you want to talk to me about?" Maya asked as she climbed through my bay window and say down next to me.

"Oh, nothing much. Is there anything bothering you at the moment?" I asked.

"No, why would you think that?"

I took a breath. "Well, Farkle said he thinks you might be jealous of me because I did well in that test and you didn't do so well," I said, really fast.

"Oh," Maya replied, looking quite uncomfortable, then we sat in silence for a bit.

"So, are you?" I asked, making the conversation about twice as awkward as it already was.

"Yeah, I guess I am. It's just so unfair. You get great parents, a loving family, your parents have good jobs, everyone likes you, your so smart and nice! Sometimes I can't help but getting jealous," Maya replied, her voice rising. I hoped she wasn't about to get angry. "Why do you get everything, including Lucas," she muttered, but I didn't hear the last part.

And then I started to get angry. "Are you kidding me? Do you know how hard I've worked? I studied for weeks for that test, I'm not a genius like Farkle, and my parents have worked so hard and sacrificed so much for us. Both of us! Maya, you don't try as hard because your so good at everything! Your so good at art and music and sport and you have so many talents and your so cool and popular," I said, I realised I was also jealous of her.

"Well, I might have talents but I've got problems," Maya replied, we were beginning to get into a full on fight.

"Other people have problems too!" I said.

"Yeah, but no one we know has an absent father, a mother who's never home, no money-" she began. Then I snapped, and lost my temper at her.

"That's the problem with you Maya! You don't realise that other people have feelings and problems too. Maybe if you bothered to get to know your friends you'd know that Farkle's parents fight all the time and are never at home for him, or that Lucas' parents are divorced and his brothers in jail!" I said.

"Riley-" Maya began to say, her voice softening. I was regretting what I had just said. How could I say those things to Maya? My best friend.

"Maya, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean those things," I said.

"I think it would be best if I went," Maya replied before climbing out the bay window. What had I done?


	8. Chapter 8- Girl Meets Cruelty

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, I've been really busy with school and this chapter's quite short. But I hope you enjoy it anyway and please leave a review!**

 **Chapter 8**

 ***Farkle's POV***

As I climbed through the bay window I could see a very flustered and stunned Riley sitting there, as soon as she saw me she turned around and said, "Farkle I need your help I've done something really bad."

"What happened?" I asked, I was very curious.

"I kind of got into a fight with Maya," she replied.

"You took my advice, didn't you?" I asked.

"Yeah, but it didn't work out as well as I'd hoped," she replied.

"What happened?" I asked, hoping it wasn't anything very serious, Maya and Riley were supposed to be best friends! They'd never got into a big fight before, besides that one time when Lucas called Maya short.

"Well I asked her if she was jealous because I did well in that test but then she started listing off the reasons she was jealous of me and then I started saying that she didn't work hard enough and that I was jealous of her talents, and then she starting going on about her life problems and then I said that other people had problems too and she went straight out the bay window," Riley said, so quickly that I barely had time to listen.

"Oh god, this sounds bad," I said.

"Oh, and I think Maya likes Lucas," she continued. I wasn't surprised, I'd noticed the way they looked at each other all the time in class.

"This sounds really bad," I said, of course I was disappointed that Maya and Riley both liked my best friend, but Maya and I were starting to suspect that Riley's feelings were changing.

"What should I do? I didn't really mean any of things, well maybe I did but I feel really bad about it, and I just kind of snapped, I love Maya and I don't want to ruin our friendship just because I was being an idiot," Riley said.

"I honestly don't know, I think the best thing you can do is just apologise and hope for the best, maybe I'll go to Maya's afterwards and talk things over with her," I said, I could tell Riley was sorry, but I did think she probably meant those things, Riley always prioritised Maya over herself and maybe she was finally starting to crack.

"Thanks Farkle, it'd mean a lot if you did, anyway, we need to talk? What happened today at school?" Riley asked, I braced myself.

"Well— uh, for a while I've been going on this website a lot, it's like this kind of science nerds kind of website and you can chat with people from all around the country and lately there's been this one person, I don't know who they are but they just keep sending me really mean messages, all the time for the past few days, so I've been kind of down in the dumps lately," I said, it felt good to finally get it off my back, I hadn't told anyone.

"Oh god, Farkle, I'm so sorry," Riley said, reaching over to hug me, she gave great hugs. "I think you should talk to my Dad, this is cyber-bullying, what have they been saying about you?"

"Uh, just stuff about my appearance and things I say and do," I replied, her face paled. "Are you going to fix this now?" I asked, managing a weak smile.

She shook her head. "This is out of my hands, I'm worried I'd only make things worse, we need to go to my parents or an adult about this, I think," she replied. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah," I said, I knew Mr Matthews would be able to help, he always seemed to know exactly how to handle a situation.

Riley held out her hand for me to take. "Let's fix this," she said.


End file.
